Tuition is Going UP Next Year... Find Out Why

What’s going to happen next year once the Legislature passes the new budget? This is what should be on every student's mind. November 18, 2008 the Seattle Times reported that there could be as much as a 20% cut ($600 million) from Washington States Higher Education Budget. In the article it showed several frightening numbers such as a "trimming $300 million over two years" in technical and community colleges. The reason that cutting funding to community colleges and technical schools is that they are one of the two traditional safe havens for the unemployed. The other is the military.

For four year institutions this also means a hefty hit. For the University of Washington a 20% cut would mean "Trimming $167 million over two years." For smaller regional schools such as Eastern Washington University it means staff cuts, an estimated 9.6 million dollar cut over two years, and the possibility of cutting courses. Cutting courses could potentially mean that students would need to stay in school longer because they would not have the necessary courses open. Longer enrollment times obviously mean more money out of the student’s pocket.

Budget cuts will have to be made and tuition will almost definitely be raised by at least 7% however we need to remind legislators that the education system plays a very important role in the economy. In Washington especially we have a very technically based industry set which ranges from aerospace to software development to agriculture. We need to maintain expertise in these areas even in a record 8.6 billion dollar deficit. A well educated populace is the key to getting out this financial hole.